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Vivendi's Plans to Lower Stake
In Utility Spark More Concerns

By

John Carreyrou Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal

Updated April 22, 2002 12:24 a.m. ET

PARIS -- As the domestic uproar that greeted the sacking of Canal Plus head Pierre Lescure subsides, the detractors of Vivendi Universal SA Chairman Jean-Marie Messier are shifting their focus to his controversial plans for another subsidiary: Vivendi Environment SA.

Mr. Messier quietly told analysts last month that he wanted to reduce Vivendi Universal's 63% stake in the big publicly traded water and waste utility to below 50% to rid...